A New Beginning
by nld200xy
Summary: A young boy close to adulthood named Dean has been forced by his mother to become a Pokemon trainer. The problem is that he doesn't much care for Pokemon? Can he learn to like his Pokemon partner? Read and find out.
1. Chapter 1

A New Beginning

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Pokemon in this fic nor do I own the concept behind Pokemon. I only own the human characters.

We begin our story in a small town called Oren. Here lived a young boy who was a month away from becoming an adult. His name was Dean. He had wavy red hair and a leather jacket over a black T-shirt.

He was walking toward a local laboratory where doctors studies the habits of creatures known only as Pokemon. Pokemon were creatures of various shapes and sizes, each with their own special traits. All of them were made for battle but only had certain abilities depending on what kind of Pokemon they were.

But what would a young boy named Dean want from a Pokemon laboratory? Was he seeking information? No, that wasn't it, for you see, whenever a young boy or girl was headed toward a Pokemon lab, their motive was to receive a Pokemon from the head professor and start a journey where they would travel to various lands with their Pokemon, discovering new Pokemon and having many battles along the way.

However, Dean didn't really want a Pokemon. In fact, he hated the creatures. He never saw any appeal in them and to have one as a partner was painful for him. He wouldn't have been going to get one had his mother not pushed him to follow in his father's footsteps and become a trainer like him.

'Well, here I am,' the boy thought with a sigh as he stood in front of the building, 'Let's just get this over with.'

Dean slowly reached his arm out towards the door, hesitant to start his journey. Maybe he could turn back and forget he'd ever been here.

That thought came to an end when he remembered his mother. If he didn't have a Pokemon of his own, she would scold him and harp on him until he finally caved in and did it. What kind of treatment was this? Dean was more than old enough to make his decisions. But, as painful as it was to deal with, his mother was a frightening force to deal with.

The door was opened as the boy walked toward a man in a lab coat with short brown hair and a lab coat. This was the town's head Pokemon Professor, a man by the name of Winston.

At this moment, the man simply had his arms folded as he looked at Dean who let out a sigh and said, "Hi, Professor, my name's Dean. I'm here to pick up my Pokemon."

However, there was no response from the man before him. Dean blinked, narrowing his eyes. How irritating. Was this man ignoring him? No, that couldn't have been the case.

"Excuse me, sir," Dean said, "I'm here for my first Pokemon."

The professor's eyes remained fixated on Dean until he tilted his head to the side, a bubble coming from his left nostril. Dean frowned when he heard a snoring sound. Winston was sleeping with his eyes wide open.

"HEY, WHAT THE HELL'S YOUR PROBLEM!!!!!!??" Dean spat as the bubble popped, the man's eyes wide as he held onto his ears shouting, "HEY, DID I WAKE YOU UP FROM A NAP!!!!!??"

The professor then removed his hands from his ears, blinked and said, "Oh, sorry, I must have dozed off," a vein forming on Dean's head as Winston cleared his throat and said, "You must be Dean. Follow me this way to receive your first Pokemon."

With that, the professor led Dean, who was reluctant to follow, over to a table with a small red and white ball on it simply known as a Pokeball. Dean looked at it, blinked and asked, "Aren't there supposed to be three?"

"There were," Winston replied, "but the other two trainers I was to see today already came before you. I'm afraid the other two starters are taken."

The boy simply shrugged saying, "Makes choosing a starter easier I guess," as he picked up the lone Pokeball and pressed a button located in the center, the ball opening up as a beam shot out of it.

'I guess that's pretty cool,' Dean thought, but his look gave the impression that he didn't care as a shape appeared within the beam. Soon, the light faded as before the boy stood a small blue penguin-like creature.

Dean stared at it and blinked, looking at the ball, then at the Pokemon, then at the professor and then back at the Pokemon. His first Pokemon ever was... a penguin. Was this some kind of joke?

"Congratulations, Dean," Winston said with a smile, "You are now the proud owner of the penguin Pokemon Piplup."

Dean shrugged and said, "Piplup it is," his eyes going wide when the penguin leapt at his foot and started clinging to it. The boy narrowed his eyes and smacked his forehead, his hand slowly running down his face as he groaned. Clearly, this was an over-affectionate Piplup.

Winston laughed and said, "Well, he clearly likes you," as he handed the boy a small computer and five more Pokeballs for capturing other Pokemon with. The hand-held computer was known as a Pokedex. It contained information on almost every Pokemon in existence.

"I wish you two the best of luck on your journey," the professor said as Dean sighed, returning Piplup to his ball and said, "Thanks..." immediately leaving the lab afterwords.

Dean let out a groan as he looked at the ball thinking, 'Well, this isn't so bad. It's not like I have to use him. I'll just walk around to a town or two and leave it at that.'

After Dean left the town into a forest, knowing he had no choice in the matter, all seemed peaceful. Sure, there were a few wild Pokemon about, but they dared not go near him. They hadn't a reason to.

Suddenly, a bright light shone from the boy's pocket. Dean stared at the light with his eyes wide open as a small beam shot out, Piplup taking form and nuzzling up against his master's leg immediately after.

The boy groaned and barked, "Hey, did I say you could come out of your ball!?"

Piplup looked up at his master with a happy expression, chirping with much glee as the boy gritted his teeth, pulling out Piplup's Pokeball and saying, "Get back in the ball. I don't need you."

Much to the boy's dismay, Piplup seemed to have ignored his command completely as he snuggled up against Dean's leg. Dean rolled his eyes and shook his leg hard enough to get Piplup to let go, the penguin rolling a few inches from him.

Dean sighed and looked down at the penguin and said, "Listen, I'll let you stay out of your ball if you promise not to slow me down in any way possible and only help when I ask for help, got it?"

The penguin smiled and nodded as the boy sighed and thought, 'Well, at least it knows how to follow orders.'

As the two continued to walk through the forest, Dean was pleased to see Piplup standing a couple of feet away from him to his right, making sure to walk in sync with the boy. He had found one good thing about Piplup; his loyalty wasn't always a bad thing. Maybe owning a Pokemon wasn't such a bad thing.

Suddenly, Dean stopped along with Piplup, his eyes darting back and forth. The boy gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes saying, "There's something hiding in the bush," and just as he'd predicted five wolf-like creatures emerged from behind the bush to his left, hungry looks in their eyes. These small Pokemon were known as Poochyena.

Dean simply blinked at them, shrugged and continued to walk until three of them ran in front of him, the other two running behind him. Piplup looked at the scene, his eyes wide open. He wanted to help his master so badly right now, but he remembered how Dean had told him not to unless the order was given.

"So, you want to play this the hard way, do you?" Dean asked, a wicked grin crossing his face as he reached down and picked up a large stick, conveniently lying there as he said, "Bring it on, you ugly mutts."

The Poochyena barked angrily at him before pouncing toward the boy. Dean simply held the stick back, swinging it when he felt they were close enough and sent the wolves tumbling across the ground. Piplup's eyes sparkled at the sight of this. A human standing up to a pack of Pokemon? Not many could pull this off.

The other two leapt towards Dean's back as he simply thrust his body around, whacking the duo hard in the face with his stick. However, this was far from over as all five rose back to their feet, growling with fury in their eyes.

Dean grinned, signaling them with his fingers to come forward while saying in a taunting tone of voice, "So you still want to play, do you?"

The wolves barked once again, lunging towards him. The boy had to time this strike just right if he wanted to get all five of them. The shot was perfect, the timing spot-on. There was no way he could lose this battle.

And so he swung the stick towards the first three. His eyes went wide when the stick only managed to hit one of them, the other two knocking him to the ground while the two behind him, now biting on the back of his collar, assisted the others in knocking him down. The stick fell from the boy's hand and rolled along the ground as Piplup started to tremble.

'Dammit!' Dean thought, his teeth gritted as the Poochyena started clawing at his chest, cuts forming, 'It seems I made a slight miscalculation!'

The penguin couldn't take any more of this. He had to save his master before it was too late. He had to ignore the orders given to him, and as painful as it felt to do it, he had no choice in the matter.

Piplup charged towards the Poochyena, smacking one hard in the face with his wing. Dean's eyes went wide as the wolf-like creature flew into a nearby tree.

Things were looking bad when the Poochyena surrounded the penguin, but Piplup stood strong, refusing to allow his master to die. In the end, he won with incredible ease, Dean's eyes wide open.

Piplup looked at his master with his eyes sparkling as Dean slowly rose to his feet. He looked down at the Pokemon breathing heavily saying, "You saved my life."

Piplup held his arms up against his waist, a proud look on his face as Dean put on a look of anger shouting, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!!!!??? I SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU NOT TO HELP ME UNLESS I ASKED!!!!!!"

Piplup's eyes went wide as he looked down, a look of shame, a grimace crossing Dean's face as he folded his arms, tapped his foot and snapped, "Don't give me that look! I'm not forgetting about your defiance any time soon!"

"Why are you so mean to him?" came a soft, feminine voice as Dean slowly turned his head, eyes still narrowed, seeing a pretty young girl who looked to be about his age. Despite her tall stature, though, her face reminded him more of a 15-year-old than that of a 17-year-old such as himself. She had long brown hair and sparkling green eyes along with a lovely sky-blue dress.

"Excuse me," Dean asked, "who are you and what do you want?"

"My name's Sophie," the girl replied, bowing her head, "and from what I saw back there, your Piplup is a very strong Pokemon. You should be more grateful. He saved your life, after all."

Dean blinked as he stared at her before turning back to his Piplup. Then he turned his gaze back to the girl and rolled his eyes.

"Look, Sophie," he retorted, "I don't need any lectures from some random stranger, okay? I didn't ask him to battle or give him any commands."

Sophie smiled and said, "That means he's very loyal. He must really like you a lot to ignore orders for your sake."

"Oh, how would you know?" Dean remarked, folding his arms and turning his back to the girl as she pulled out a Pokeball of her own saying, "I would know. I'm a trainer myself."

Dean turned back to look at her as a beam shot from the girl's ball, a small turtle-like creature with a plant on her head emerging. This Pokemon was known as Turtwig.

Much like Dean's Piplup, this Turtwig seemed to have a huge attraction towards her master. The second she appeared, she turned to Sophie and leapt at her, pinning the girl to the ground and licking her face, Sophie breaking out into hysterics.

"That must be annoying," Dean said as Sophie calmed her Turtwig down before getting up and shaking her head saying, "No. It's actually very nice to know that my Turtwig likes me so much."

Dean simply rolled his eyes, placing his hands in his pockets. How could she deal with such a thing? He couldn't imagine something like that being a healthy. What if she was standing near a cliff when her Turtwig did that? Both would probably fall to their deaths. Besides, he knew that there was no way he and his Piplup would have a relationship like that.

"Hey, here's an idea," Sophie said just as Dean was about to leave, "How about we have a battle to see who the better trainer is?"

Dean rubbed his chin and nodded with a grin before asking, "If I beat you, will you stop lecturing me on how to take care of my Pokemon?"

Sophie nodded and said, "If you two are good enough to beat me as a team, I'll have no reason to."

Dean moved in finger towards Piplup in a way that said, 'Get over here,' as the penguin obeyed, walking towards his master. Sophie nodded at her Turtwig who looked back at her and nodded back. And so a trainer battle was going to begin. Tension filled the air. Who would win? Only time would tell. And despite not liking Pokemon, Dean had faith in his Piplup. After all, he defeated five Pokemon on his own, right?


	2. Chapter 2

A New Beginning

Dean stood a few feet away from Sophie for this battle, as was a custom with trainer battles. Piplup stood but a few mere centimeters away from Dean while Turtwig stood the same distance from her owner.

Dean looked down at Piplup with a grin and asked, "So, you gonna win this for me?" as the penguin nodded, a look of confidence on his face. Sophie simply smiled at her Turtwig and said, "You do your absolute best out there, got it?"

With that, Sophie pointed toward Piplup, her smile turning a much more serious look as she shouted, "Turtwig, start things off with Tackle!"

The turtle nodded and charged towards her opponent. Dean simply smiled proudly, his arms folded as if he knew Piplup wouldn't allow this to hit him. However, Piplup just stood there, blinking as if he had no idea what to do.

Before Dean could even realize what was going on, the penguin was hit hard in the chest by Turtwig's skull, skidding across the ground and doing his best to stay up. Dean looked down at the penguin and blinked. Why hadn't Piplup dodged it?

"Hey, what kinda game are you playing at!?" he snapped as Piplup turned to him, a look of shame in his eyes as the boy glared and said, "Look, it's not hard. Just do to her what you did to those wolf-like things earlier, okay?"

Piplup nodded as Sophie simply looked at the two, shaking her head. It seemed Dean just didn't understand.

Piplup tried his best to land a blow against Turtwig, but once again the turtle's head rammed into the penguin's chest. Piplup tried all he could to maintain his footing as Dean gritted his teeth, a vein forming on his head while Sophie said, "Maybe you should try telling him to do something instead of expecting him to do all the work."

"Hey, I did tell him to do something!" Dean retorted, "I told him to do what he did to those wolf guys! He acted on his own then, right?"

Sophie simply closed her eyes and shook her head once more. Dean still didn't understand.

As Piplup took in another blow, once again clueless of what he should be doing, Dean took a deep breath and thought, 'What was that move he used on them called?'

The boy then remembered something very important. The professor had given him a Pokedex. The boy didn't hesitate in pulling the small device out as he shouted, "PIPLUP, STALL HER WHILE I LOOK UP SOME INFO!!!!"

The penguin nodded as he leapt to the side, dodging Turtwig's next tackle. Sophie smiled at the sight of this. It did her heart good to see the boy cooperating with his partner this time. Piplup continued to dodge each Tackle with perfect timing. Luckily for the penguin, Turtwig wasn't exactly the fastest Pokemon around.

He then found a section on Piplup that told of each and every one of the penguin's moves. Then he saw it: The move Piplup had used on the Poochyena pack was Pound.

"PIPLUP, HIT HER WITH POUND!!!!" the boy snapped as the penguin nodded and rammed his short wing hard into Turtwig's face.

The turtle skidded across the ground, groaning in pain before shaking it off. Sophie smiled at the sight of this. It seemed as if Dean was starting to understand what being a trainer was all about.

Dean grinned at the sight of this and said, "Way to go, Piplup. Keep that up and we can win this! Just hit that Turtwig a few more times!"

Piplup nodded and charged towards the turtle, however, Dean had failed to realize how bad of a strategy this was. Piplup had only heard the command to use the attack. Dean hadn't told him to dodge anything the turtle could dish out. As such, Turtwig simply ran towards the penguin, ramming her skull into the penguin's chest seconds before he could lower his wing.

Piplup let out a light gasp as he fell over on his back, Dean's eyes wide open. Turtwig ran over to Sophie who petted the turtle before returning her to her ball.

Dean gritted his teeth, his body shaking with anger as Sophie calmly explained, "You didn't use teamwork to its full extent. Had you given Piplup the right directions instead of expecting him to read your mind, you would have won easily. The only reason he won against those Poochyena was because you were in danger and he felt the need to help you."

However, these words didn't seem to reach the boy's ears. Dean glared at Piplup and returned the Pokemon to his ball, then he shouted, "YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF TRASH!!!!!!!!?? YOU PLANNED THAT, DIDN'T YOU!!!!!?? YOU JUST WANTED ME TO THINK SHE WAS RIGHT ABOUT US, IS THAT IT!!!!!!??"

Sophie started to tremble, a tear rolling down her face as the boy ran past her. This particular direction led to the forest's river. But why was he going that way?

Sophie wanted to know this very much, so she followed the boy and gasped when she saw him standing in front of the river while holding the ball in his grasp. The boy glared at the ball saying, "You have disobeyed me and gotten in my way for the last time!"

"DON'T DO IT!!!!!!" Sophie cried, but it was too late. Dean hurled the ball into the river as it floated down the current, quickly vanishing from sight as the boy shouted, "I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN, YOU HEAR!!!!!!??"

With the ball that held Piplup gone, Dean placed his hands in his pocket angrily and turned around, but couldn't go anywhere from here as Sophie was blocking his path. The girl stared at the boy, tears forming in her eyes.

"How could you?" she asked as Dean's eyes narrowed, the boy saying, "That Pokemon was nothing more than a pain in my side. Now move so I can go back home and forget this day never happened."

Sophie couldn't believe this boy. How could Dean feel so heartless towards Pokemon? Such a person didn't deserve to be a trainer.

"I can't respect a man like you," she said through tears, "Anyone who treats Pokemon like that is just despicable."

With that, she turned toward the dark part of the forest and walked towards it. After a few seconds, she was gone from sight and Dean sighed with relief, glad to be rid of her. The boy simply shrugged and headed the other way, back to the path leading to his home. He'd simply tell his mom that something bad happened and that he couldn't continue his Pokemon journey.

While he walked along the path, he sighed, looking up towards the sky and thought, 'It feels kinda lonely now...' then he shook his head and shouted, "No! I don't miss him at all! If he dies out on his own, it's not my problem!"

Suddenly, he heard a rustling in the bushes as the five wolf-like creatures from earlier emerged from behind one. The boy lowered his eyelids and said, "Oh goody, it's you again. Look, I don't have time to deal with you."

However, the boy's tune changed when following the Poochyena pack was an even larger wolf with a straighter face and sharper fangs and longer legs. This was Mightyena, the evolved form of Poochyena.

The wolf glared at the boy, eyes blood red as Dean rolled his eyes saying, "Let me guess, their mother, right?"

The wolf continued to snarl as the boy held up his fists and said, "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you get!"

It was only a matter of seconds until Dean found himself defeated. He simply lay on the ground, covered in cuts and bruises as Mightyena walked off with her Poochyena pups. This day was just getting worse and worse, but on the plus side, the wolves had spared him.

Dean sighed as he simply lay there muttering, "You know, if Piplup was here, he could have helped me..." then he shook his head, slowly climbing up to his feet, pain entering his body with each second he spent trying. The boy gritted his teeth and said to himself, "I don't need that stupid penguin. Once I go home, I can leave all of this Pokemon nonsense behind me."

The boy managed to take five steps forward before falling down, supporting himself with his knees as he slammed his fist into the ground, letting down tears. He bit his lip, trying his best to keep his cool but just couldn't. Soon, those tears became waterworks as he started to cry.

"What have I done!?" he spat, ramming his fist into the ground once more, "Piplup's probably danger out there on his own!"

The boy climbed back to his feet, wiping his tears. A few were leftover as he sniffed, "He's probably scared all on his own like that. Piplup's not used to being alone. And besides, it's not like he'll ever forgive me. Hell, I can't even forgive myself for doing such a stupid thing."

The boy then looked up towards the sky and shouted, "I'M SORRY, PIPLUP!!!!! I WAS STUPID!!!!!"

Now Dean didn't know what he wanted to do. He could try to capture a Pokemon, but what was the point? He knew he couldn't beat a Pokemon without another one to help him out. Besides, it wouldn't help him forget about his Piplup. He didn't even feel like showing his face back at home. It would only bring shame to his mother at some point or another.

He just wished he had his Piplup back. He wanted so badly to be able to reverse time and stop himself from throwing the Pokeball into the river. He knew that it was too late to get the penguin back. He was long gone now and Dean was once again on his own in life.

Feeling helpless as ever, the boy sat on a stump. He was lost now. Where was he to go? There was no place for a guy like him in the world.

Some nearby Pokemon approached him as he looked over at them, blinking his eyes. Each did whatever it could to cheer the boy up. However, Dean just sighed. He couldn't feel happy no matter what anyone else did. Besides, he'd never liked others trying to cheer him up, even when he was a child. He always found it more irritating than amusing.

After a while, the Pokemon gave up and left him to mourn. One offered him an exotic fruit as he simply turned his back to it, the Pokemon slowly walking away from the boy and leaving the fruit there just in case. Dean really didn't feel like eating. In fact, hunger seemed unknown to him now.

The boy sat there for another five minutes when he heard a young male voice say, "Hey, you! Is this Piplup yours?"

The boy's eyes went wide as he turned around to see a young fisherman with his pole humped over his shoulder. Standing right next to the boy was a small blue penguin who chirped happily and ran over to Dean, embracing him.

Dean let down tears and asked, "Piplup... how can you forgive me after the way I treated you?"

The penguin simply held onto his master as the boy sighed, "I guess it doesn't matter as long as you're back," petting the penguin's head.

The fisherman then threw Dean Piplup's Pokeball and said, "If I were you, I'd take better care of my Pokemon. You're lucky I happened to snag that little guy's ball on my pole when I did."

"Thank you," Dean said, bowing his head to the man before asking, "How did you find me?"

"I didn't," the fisherman replied, "That Piplup of yours led me here. I only accompanied him to give him guidance in case we were attacked."

The boy looked at the penguin and sighed with relief. Today had been a long day and he just wanted to find a town to rest in. As such, he held the penguin over his shoulders and said, "I promise I'll never do anything that stupid again, Piplup. You and I are partners."

And from that moment on, their friendship was stronger than ever. Together, the two managed to capture a new ally, a small caterpillar-like creature known as Weedle.

Sure, Dean now had respect for Pokemon, but he still kept up his tough guy act when in battle. There was no way he'd let another living soul see his soft side. However, he was no longer cold toward Pokemon and treated them like his friends.

He never did see that Sophie girl again, but if she could see him now she would have been proud. A beautiful friendship had been born and nothing was going to ruin that.


End file.
